As two physically fit Daily News reporters, we were confident enough to accept a challenge to train as emergency responders and began our day at The Rock — a rigorous training course at the Fire Academy on Randall’s Island.

“What we’re going to do is give you just a flavor of what our firefighters are trained to do every day,” said Lt. Mike Cacciola, the academy’s director of health and fitness, as we suited up in our bulky gear.

Cacciola told us it takes weeks for most of the Fire Department's recruits — known as “probies,” or probationary firefighters — to master the skills needed to flawlessly complete the course. Some obstacles we would not even be allowed to attempt without the proper training.

“But you’ll see real quick how demanding it can be out there,” Cacciola warned.

Daily News staffers Joe Kemp and Chelsia Rose Marcuis work the hose under the watch of FDNY instructor Andrew Sforza at the FDNY Fire Academt on Randall's Island.

“You’d have to be ready to go out there and do it all again for another call,” Chief Roger Ahee, head of training at the FDNY Fire Academy, told Kemp (l.) and Marcius (r.)

After donning flame-repellent pants and jackets, we each strapped a 30-pound oxygen tank to our back and attached the breathing apparatus — a Darth Vader-like facemask that blocked a generous chunk from our peripherals.

We climbed five flights of stairs carrying about 100 pounds of gear, including 50-foot length hoses and tool bags as if we were running up a high-rise to connect to a standpipe.

As we snaked our way through the course, we were forced to lift and climb ladders, bust down doors, drag 165-pound dummies and clamber through a small, dark crawl space. We finished by putting water on a car fire and snuffing out a small blaze in an apartment building.

“You have to aim the hose high,” one instructor, Andrew Sforza, told us. “All that stuff about aiming at the base of the fire is all movie magic. That’s not how we put out fires.”

Marcius (l.) and Kemp got "just a flavor of what our firefighters are trained to do every day.”

Our knees were bruised, our arms ached and our legs groaned as we pushed our way to the end. But that was only the first half of our day.

Once we stripped out of our gear, we were escorted to Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens — the home of the department’s EMS Training Academy — and suited up as EMTs.

After a tour of the equipment and medications on the ambulance, we were put in the backseat to respond to a simulated emergency — mimicking one of the 1.3 million or so calls for help in the city last year.

With lights and sirens blaring, we arrived at the address where our victim, Hal — a sophisticated dummy that can leak blood and produce a heartbeat — collapsed from an apparent heart attack.

Kemp navigates a crawlspace while weighed down with 100 pounds of gear.

Marcius climbs a ladder while hoping for a smaller helmet.

We took turns performing CPR as paramedics administered medications and shocks from a defibrillator. We managed to get a pulse and packaged the 220-pound mannequin on a stretcher with several bags of gear to take back down to the ambulance.

Hal was going to make it.

It was a long day, and both of us were relieved when it was over. But if we were true members of the city’s Bravest, we couldn’t afford to be fatigued.

“That was just one call,” Chief Roger Ahee, head of training at the academy, told us when we were done. “You’d have to be ready to go out there and do it all again for another call.”